MaxRedline

Well, She Was From High Street...

A 27-year-old Nazareth woman was charged Wednesday with causing the death of a person by shooting him up with meth after he overdosed on fentanyl in February, court papers say. Marissa Metler, of the 400 block of West High Street, was arraigned midday before District Judge Jacqueline Taschner on charges of third-degree murder, drug delivery resulting in death and two counts of possession with intent to deliver drugs, court papers say.

Metler told police she got the meth from the pipe, court papers say. A Pennsylvania State Police lab confirmed the residue in the pipe was meth, police said.

She's now looking at 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

And girls just wanna have fun.

 

 

Eat Your Weed, Don't Smoke It

According to a study from researchers at Oregon State University, cannabis compounds show the ability to prevent the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from entering human cells. 

The two compounds commonly found in hemp, called cannabigerolic acid, or CBGA, and cannabidiolic acid, or CBDA, were identified during a chemical screening as having the potential to prevent coronavirus. In the study, the compounds bound to spike proteins found on the virus and blocked a step the pathogen uses to infect people.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/cannabis-compounds-prevent-coronavirus-from-entering-human-cells-oregon-state-university-study

Newman pointed out how the study shows the cannabis must be ingested in edible form.

By the way, the compounds won't get you high, and they're destroyed when burned in a joint.

I guess this means that where pot's still illegal, you can legitimately claim that it's only for medicinal purposes.

 

Well, They DID Ask For It....

And the Bay Area Cities of Oakland and San Francisco are getting it good and hard. Now the cities' "leaders" hope to reverse the course they've set. Rots a ruck with that, kids! But we're getting a lot of it, as well:

https://www.courthousenews.com/bay-area-mayors-push-to-reverse-police-cuts-and-expand-surveillance-tools/

The mayors of Oakland and San Francisco once championed diverting police funding to social services. Now they both want to hire more officers and give police more tools to investigate crimes.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed talks to reporters inside the community room of the city's newest Navigation Center, built to house homeless people near the Embarcadero.

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — More than a year after moving to cut and redistribute police funding in the wake of racial justice protests, two city leaders in Northern California are now pushing to hire more officers, crack down on crime and expand police surveillance powers.

The mayors of San Francisco and its across-the-bay neighbor Oakland recently unveiled proposals to increase police presence in their cities and broaden law enforcement’s ability to use surveillance tools, such as license plate readers and access to private security camera networks. The proposals come as both cities struggle with an increase in homicides and violent crime and a recent spate of brazen robberies targeting high-end retailers and cannabis dispensaries. 

Across the bay in Oakland, Mayor Libby Schaaf recently asked for city legislators to approve money to hire more officers. The request came after department staffing fell below 678, the threshold the city must meet to keep collecting a special tax approved by voters in a 2014.

On Tuesday, Schaaf penned a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom calling for the state to continue sending California Highway Patrol officers to enforce traffic laws in Oakland and to install license-plate readers around highway ramps and major city arteries. The request comes amid a recent spike in homicides, car jackings and robberies in Oakland this year.

Meanwhile, here in Orygun, it's beginning to dawn on some folks that while feeling all good and touchy-feely may be one thing, the results are definitely another:

Major cartels, including ones from China, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, Bulgaria and other countries, are now growing marijuana year-round and committing other egregious crimes, such as human trafficking and slavery, to support their illegal activities because Oregon has made it hard for police and farm inspectors to do their jobs.

Illegal marijuana operations run by domestic and international cartels are expanding throughout Oregon thanks to the state’s liberal laws and inadequate regulations, which impact the legal and illegal drug industries as well as law enforcement’s ability to address drug crimes.

For example, police in Oregon are prohibited by law from asking about nationality or immigration status, according to a report by The Epoch Times. In addition, legal hemp farmers are not obligated under Oregon law to allow inspectors onto their property to search for illegal marijuana cultivation operations on their farms.

Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel confirmed that drug traffickers are now coming to Oregon. He told The Epoch Times:

“Drug traffickers have flocked here from every state in the nation and nearly a dozen countries.”

Oregon’s Jackson County has declared a state of emergency as cartels have stolen water, intimidated residents and enslaved more than 10,000 illegal immigrants.

Oregon math: sanctuary state for illegal aliens + legalized pot=Mexican drug cartels + human slavery.

Albany Police Captain Brad Liles told The Epoch Times in a separate report that Chinese operators had major and sophisticated indoor growing operations: Portland , Oregon 800 murders. Drug cartels setting up in “ open borders” move. More undocumented migrants coming in daily. https://t.co/mrOjDWfMOc

In the small town of Philomath, one illegal operation took place in a two-story warehouse structure with 11 rooms and 5,000 square feet. According to Philomath Chief of Police Ken Rueben, the warehouse contained 4,000 plants in varying stages, from starters to fully-grown plants ready to harvest.

The sophisticated facility even used generators, air filtration devices and electronically controlled temperature and humidity based on the age of the plants.

https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/oregon-attracting-international-drug-cartels-that-use-narco-slaves/

Five suspects allegedly connected with a Chinese organized crime group headquartered in New York were arrested during the raid, according to Chief Rueben.

Just a few blocks further up the hill from my place, there used to be a small grocery and deli. It's now a pot shop. Same story down the hill; that place used to be a small massage studio/health food shop. It all happened in the space of just a couple of years.

Transformation, dude!

 

 

 

Evidently, No License.

A Nov. 29 search warrant in the small town of Philomath, Oregon, led to the discovery of 4,000 marijuana plants growing in a warehouse and the arrest of five suspects allegedly connected with a Chinese organized crime group headquartered in New York, according to Philomath Chief of Police Ken Rueben.

I think the legal limit here is like 10 or 12 plants....

Of course, the growers have to buy a state license, as do distributors. Details....

 

Really - Leave These Things To The Pros

A Florida HOA hired a guy to sedate and remove geese from its property. It went about as horribly as it could after the drugged-up the birds got scared by a loud car and flew off, then started dropping from the sky

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2021/12/10/florida-hoa-in-hot-water-after-drugged-geese-drown/?

Drugged animals and translocation simply are a bad combination.

 

The Opioid "Crisis"

By The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Three retail pharmacy chains recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said Tuesday in a verdict that could set the tone for U.S. city and county governments that want to hold pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid crisis.

The counties blamed pharmacies operated by CVS, Walgreens and Walmart for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1 billion, their attorney said.

Seems rather misplaced, to me. It's not as though the pharmacy staff were holding the druggies down and stuffing oxycodone or other addictive drugs into their gullets. At some point, it seems as though the blame here should fall upon the doctors who prescribe the stuff and the druggies who overindulge.

                This was the first time pharmacy companies had completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug                  crisis that has killed a half-million Americans over the past two decades. How much the                                 pharmacies must pay in damages will be decided in the spring by federal judge.

Pharmacists don't sell the stuff out the back door; they fill prescriptions that people bring to them. They don't have any control over how they're ultimately used.

Lake and Trumbull counties were able to convince the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities.

There ought to be an intelligence standard for juries, but I imagine that would be too hard to enforce - more's the pity.

The opioid crisis has overwhelmed courts, social services agencies and law enforcement in Ohio’s blue-collar corner east of Cleveland, leaving behind heartbroken families and babies born to addicted mothers, Lanier told jurors.

In my view, they're barking up the wrong tree.

         

 

Planning Ahead

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Washington state health officials are noticing an alarming increase in overdose cases related to fentanyl in recent months compared to this time last year.

Health officials said in a news release Tuesday that cases are reaching record-breaking levels and are now urging people to carry naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses, if they plan on taking illicit drugs.

Yes indeed. Because druggies are paragons of foresight and planning, this approach is bound to succeed. Who knew?

 

The U.S. Military Tries "Anti-Aging Pills" For Troops

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the organization that administers America’s Spec Ops forces, says it will soon start clinical trials of an “anti-aging pill” that could halt some naturally degenerative effects of aging.

The hope seems to be that these will make them bigger, stronger, and able to quickly recover from injuries in order to rejoin their comrades faster than would normally be the case with their untreated counterparts. Presumably, they're going to have to wait a while in order to assess the relative effects of the treatments.

“We have completed pre-clinical safety and dosing studies in anticipation of follow-on performance testing in fiscal year 2022,” Navy Commander Tim Hawkins, a SOCOM spokesperson, told Breaking Defense.

 

 

Shot Over A Cheap Drug

TACOMA, Wash — Police are still investigating a shooting in Tacoma that left one teenager dead on Jan. 29. A 13-year-old and a 15-year-old are charged with the shooting over what Pierce County prosecutors say was a drug deal and failed attempted robbery.

But the shooting highlights a destructive habit that some say isn’t being looked at closely enough: acid use among adolescents.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and guess that none involved were (or are) white.

 

Living Down To Expectations

CORVALLIS, Ore. (KMTR) — A driver high on marijuana crashed a Tesla into an apartment building in Oregon late Tuesday night, sending hundreds of small batteries flying, police said.

Two of the batteries shot through apartment windows.

One landed in a resident's lap.

The other came to rest on a bed - and set the sheets on fire. The force of the crash also sent a tire hurtling into the second story wall of an apartment, breaking a water pipe in the wall. That in turn destroyed the bathroom in the unit - and flooded the downstairs.

Saving the environment, no matter the cost.

 

 

Somewhat Ironic

Historically, tobacco plants are responsible for their share of illness and death. Now they may help control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two biotech companies are using the tobacco plant, Nicotiana benthamiana, as bio-factories to produce a key protein from the coronavirus that can be used in a vaccine.

Well, the plants aren't responsible for anything; that's down to how they've historically been used. It'll be interesting if the work pans out and results in a tobacco product that's beneficial to human health. One thing's for sure, we have plenty of the stuff.